The present invention relates generally to a vacuum processing apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of processing chambers for processing a substrate-like substrate-like workpiece, such as a semiconductor wafer, in an interior space with its pressure being reduced.
In the apparatus of the type stated above, especially the vacuum processing apparatus for processing a substrate-shaped workpiece under manufacture, such as a wafer or else, in a pressure-reduced interior space of the apparatus, it has been required to improve the efficiency of substrate processing operation while at the same time achieving miniaturization and higher accuracy of the processing. To do this, the so-called multi-chamber apparatus has been developed in recent years, which comprises a plurality of processing chambers with a plurality of vacuum vessels or containers being coupled together in one apparatus. In this processing apparatus having a plurality of processing rooms or chambers, each processing chamber is coupled to a conveyance room (transfer chamber), which is designed to have a robot arm or the like for transportation of a substrate(s) while an inner gas and its pressure are adjusted in a pressure-reducible way.
In this apparatus, the number of those workpieces to be processed by one vacuum processing apparatus per unit time increases; thus, it is possible to improve the productivity per installation area of a user's building, such as a clean room with a plurality of vacuum processing apparatuses installed therein. Typically, such apparatuses are arrayed along a line-shaped passage in the cleanroom at an edge of passage, along which workpiece-containing vessels, such as cassettes, are transferred by a robot or the like. As the apparatuses aligned along one passage increase in number, the number of processable workpieces per facility is considered to increase, resulting in an increase in process efficiency.
Accordingly, in the vacuum processing apparatus to be installed within such facility building, the apparatus in the installed state is demanded to lessen a floor area of the building. Furthermore, since this apparatus is needed to undergo maintenance periodically, a need is felt to provide a space for the maintenance also. This maintenance space is typically reserved around the apparatus main body and is arranged to have a predetermined width on the floor on which the apparatus is installed in such a manner as to permit the user or a maintenance worker(s) to walk while having maintenance parts and tools.
One example of such multi-chamber construction has been disclosed in JP-A-2005-101598.